During the UFC Abu Dhabi broadcast, the promotion stunned fans by announcing that Dan Hooker would face French superstar Salahdine Parnasse at Accor Arena in Paris on September 5. The former KSW champion impressed everyone with his win over Kenneth Cross at the Rousey vs. Carano event. With that, Parnasse’s UFC debut against Hooker looks nothing short of a certified banger. But even before setting foot in France, ‘The Hangman’ is already facing threats from French fans.
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In an interview with Submission Radio, the Kiwi revealed that French fans began sending him death threats shortly after the UFC announced his fight against Parnasse.
“A lot of the death threats have been outrageous. I didn’t get it when I fought BSD. Like, just the French people speaking French and f— telling me that I’m going to die and telling me they’re going to kill me.
“I think maybe because BSD is obviously French as well, my last opponent. I feel like just because he’s such a respectful guy that maybe the people that kind of follow him or support him aren’t complete c–. But whoever this c—’s fans are, they’re outrageous.”
Notably, before facing ‘BSD’ at UFC 325, Hooker stated that he “won’t lose to a Frenchman” and vowed to smash him in Australia. However, he ultimately admitted that playing mind games with Saint Denis was difficult because of the former French paratrooper’s gentle nature, calling him “the nicest bloke.” Aside from that instance, Hooker hasn’t said much about French fighters or the country as a whole. In that case, the reason Salahdine Parnasse’s fans are sending him death threats remains unclear. However, ‘The Hangman’ isn’t the first fighter to receive death threats from fans.
In 2021, Aljamain Sterling also opened up about receiving death threats from Russian fans after winning the bantamweight title against Petr Yan. In their first fight at UFC 259, the fight ended in the fourth round when the Russian fighter was disqualified for landing an illegal knee, making ‘Funkmaster’ the champion. Speaking about the aftermath on his podcast, Sterling disclosed that he had particularly received threats from “Russian doctors.”
Even before that, Chael Sonnen disclosed receiving death threats from Brazilian fans over his personal trash talk against the country’s legend, Anderson Silva. A year after losing to ‘The Spider’ at UFC 117, ‘The Bad Guy’ revealed on The MMA Hour that he had received “10 death threats” from Brazilian fans, with the seventh apparently being serious. Still, Sonnen expressed admiration for the fans because of their passion.
Now that Dan Hooker has opened up about receiving death threats from French fans, it will be interesting to see whether the situation fuels any animosity between him and Salahdine Parnasse before they ultimately face each other at UFC Paris on September 5.
